After the Platform
by AbSim7
Summary: It's Albus and Rose's first year at Hogwarts and they are very excited to see the school all of their family seems to adore, but will James make Albus' life miserable? And what about Rose's friendship with Scorpius Malfoy - is he really who he say he is?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

James grinned and looked around at his fellow Gryffindors in the compartment. The Hogwarts express had just left the station and James had just said goodbye to his Mum and Dad. The train was headed towards James' second year at Hogwarts.

He was standing just outside the compartment his friends and two cousins were sharing. The five of them were all really close. Louis (Uncle Bill's son) was a year older than them but the Weasley/Potter family tended to stick together. Roxanne - Uncle George's daughter - and their two friends Troy and Erica made up the rest of the gang.

"Oi, Potter!" Said Troy as James was entering the compartment. "Have a good summer?"

"Of course," James replied "Spent the time annoying Albus and dreaming up new ways to get detention."

They all groaned, James was infamous for his ability to get detention from every professor – even the nice ones. In his first week only, he had managed to get six detentions. James smiled cheekily at them and sat down next to Erica.

"Hey James." She smiled at him. Erica was a very pretty brunette with blue eyes and the main reason James hadn't failed his end of term exams. "Did you do the summer reading?" The ever studious girl asked.

"There was reading?" James replied shocked. Although he wasn't really that concerned, he could just copy off of someone later if he needed too.

"Of, course there was! You don't think the teachers would just let you stay home all summer coming up with new ways to torture them?" Erica asked.

"Me, torture the teachers? Never!" James said in mock outrage. They all laughed. He caught Roxanne's eye and winked. They had in fact, spent the summer coming up with new pranks to use this year. They had lots of ideas too, Uncle George was full of them and occasionally Uncle Ron or his Dad would tell some stories as well.

Oh yes, he thought. It's going to be a great year.

This is it, Albus thought, his first ever year at Hogwarts was beginning. Albus was feeling a mixture of emotions, he was nervous and excited at the same time. He was happy that Rose was here with him and that they were experiencing this together. He and Rose had always been very close. They were sitting in a compartment with their older cousins Fred, Lucy and Dominique.

Albus was staring out the window, watching the English countryside go by. Rose was chatting with Lucy, so he had time to think for a bit. His dad had just told him that the sorting hat takes into account what house you want to be sorted into. This relieved Albus a bit but nevertheless he was nervous. What else had his dad said? It had taken into account his choice too? What could that mean? Surely there was no doubt his Dad would have been in Gryffindor, right?

The sound of the compartment door opening interrupted his thoughts. Albus looked up to see a blonde girl with freckles who looked to be about his age.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" She asked. "All the others are full."

"Of course." Said Albus as the girl sat down across from him.

"My name's Abby by the way, Abby Mellark." The girl said.

"I'm Albus Potter." Albus replied. Her mouth opened in shock. That was a bit of a stretch, Albus thought. His name was weird but there was no need to look so surprised!

"You're Harry Potters son aren't you?" She asked him.

"Yes," Albus answered slowly. "How did you know that?"

"Well you look just like him! Except for the scar and glasses of course." The girl said. She then proceeded to prattle on about houses, quidditch and whatnot. But Albus was only half listening. How did she know all that? He thought. I guess dad is pretty well known – he is the head of the Auror department after all and he's married to Mum who played seeker for the Holyhead harpies. It was still weird that she knew what he looked like though…

Rose smiled in excitement. She knew they were getting close. This was it, her chance to prove herself, prove that she wasn't just another Weasley. Rose knew she would do well in her classes, she would work hard and make sure she was at the top.

"Are you ready Rose?" her cousin Fred asked.

"Are you worried about the sorting?" Lucy asked.

"Not really." Rose replied. And she wasn't, she knew where she belonged and that was in Gryffindor with the rest of her family. No hat was going to tell her she didn't belong there. The train was slowing down now and Rose glanced over at Albus who was deep in conversation with that blonde girl – what was her name again? Abby? She seemed nice, a bit over-talkative though.

Albus looked up, almost as if he had heard her thinking about him. The two cousins were very close as they were almost the same age and had grown up together. The train had come to a complete stop now and they all stood up.

"Ready?" asked Albus.

"Of course!" Rose said as they were being shepherded onto the platform.

"Firs' years this way! Firs' years come with me." Bellowed an enormous man with a shaggy beard and twinkling eyes. This must be Hagrid she thought. The man spotted her and Albus and winked at them.

They walked awhile and were soon at the edge of the glittering, black lake. Rose clambered up onto a boat along with Albus and Abby. At the very last second, a boy with platinum blonde hair boarded as well. Hey, Rose thought, isn't that the boy from the platform, the one her parents were talking about?

Rose didn't pursue that thought because any thoughts Rose had had at that point disappeared. She had just gotten her first glimpse of Hogwarts and it was breathtaking.

The thousands of windows twinkled as they were lit up like a Christmas tree. The castle itself was sprawling with towers and turrets as far as they eye can see. "I'm going to live here!" Rose thought excitedly. "This is my new home."

**A/N This is my first ever fanfic and I'm not entirely sure about it. Review if you want, I'm open to anything. If you don't want to review that's cool too. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Albus looked around excitedly; he was standing just outside the doors to the Great Hall with the rest of the first-years. A witch wearing magenta coloured robes, who had introduced herself as Professor Stratas was just finishing the welcome speech.

"Your house will be like your family. Once we go through the doors you will be sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Any questions?" She asked.

A petite girl with sleek, black hair put up her hand.

"Yes miss…?"

"Payne." The girl replied with a toss of her hair. "I was just wondering how we're going to be sorted?"

"That," said the professor "you will find out in an instant." She said while swinging the doors open to reveal the fabled great hall.

Albus gasped at what he saw. It was just like he had imagined it – five huge tables were filled with students, teachers and ghosts. The empty gold goblets and plates were set all along the benches. And at the end of the hall, right in front of where the professors were sitting was a stool with a rather mangy looking hat on it. Albus supposed this was the sorting hat, it looked rather ugly to have so much wisdom.

There was however, one thing that he had never heard about from all of his family's stories. There was a golden statue of a phoenix that stood in the center of the hall between two of the house tables. Albus wondered why no one had ever mentioned it.

The first years moved slowly up to the front of the hall and Albus passed the statue on the way up. He wanted to stop and read the plaque but he was just too nervous to do anything. He felt like everyone was staring at him for some reason. It was probably just nerves, but Albus couldn't shake the feeling that something weird was going on.

The hat suddenly started to sing but Albus couldn't focus on the words. He heard snatches of it though "Their daring nerve and chivalry" and "Wit beyond measure". All Albus could really focus on was the whispers he heard floating out, over the crowd.

"Is that really him?"

"Of course, looks just like him."

"Doesn't seem a bit like James though."

Albus couldn't help but feel that those whispers were for him. But it was probably just nerves right? The hat had finished singing now and professor Stratas took out a long scroll and began reading off names.

"Allen, Marnie."

A tall girl with brown, bushy hair nervously sat on the stool.

"Hufflepuff!" exclaimed the hat.

And so it went on… and on… and on. The wait was almost unbearable for Albus, who was just anxious to be sorted.

"Malfoy, Scorpius." Albus' head snapped up, he had heard of him - this was his parents' old rival. There was a lot of murmuring in the crowd but the boy ignored it all and took a seat on the stool. The hat seemed to deliberate for a while. It was the longest time anyone had taken, but after about three minutes the hat shouted – "Slytherin!" The boy sat down with a weird expression on his face – he looked relieved but slightly unhappy.

"Mellark, Abby." Albus was excited to see his new friend called up. Almost instantly the hat shouted "Gryffindor". She shot him a grin as she went to take her seat.

Only a few more he thought, as Payne, Jenn was sorted into Slytherin.

"Potter, Albus." There was a lot of murmuring for him as well. Albus carefully made his way up to the front and sat down on the stool, the hat was placed on his head.

"Hmmmm, interesting." The hat thought to him. Albus was so nervous now he thought he might puke, he glanced over at the Gryffindor table and James stuck out his tongue at him – that didn't help.

After what felt like _hours_ the hat shouted "Gryffindor!" Albus almost sank with relief. He was so happy, he felt like he was floating. He removed the hat and stepped down from the stool. He started to make his way over to the table, where James, Abby and the rest of the Weasleys were beaming at him. However, Albus caught sight of the statue again and this time read the plaque.

Albus' whole world stopped, he felt like he had been hit with a bag full of bricks. How could this be- it made no sense… But it did make sense, the way his family always seemed so respected bordering on reverence, the way everyone knew who he was and how they were always in the prophet no matter how his parents tried to hide it. His dad was famous, he was famous. Dazedly, Albus stumbled over to the table and sat down. He went over again in his mind what the plaque had said, what had always been hinted at but never fully explained.

"This monument marks the spot where Harry James Potter defeated the dark wizard Voldemort and freed the wizarding world from terror and destruction."

James clapped and hollered as Rose the last to be sorted, joined them at the Gryffindor table. The headmistress, professor Sprout stood up and gave her usual speech, welcome, stay out of the forest Wasleys wizard Wheezes are banned blah, blah, blah. It was taking far too long and James wasn't just hungry, he was ravenous.

"Can we eat already?" James yelled.

Most of the students laughed, but Victoire Weasley (the head girl) shot him a look. James shrugged his shoulders at her.

Proffesor Sprout was pretty cool (for a headmistress), and since she was basically done talking anyway she just chuckled and said "Very well, ." She waved her wand and the feast began.

"Excellent" James said and immediately started wrestling with Troy for a chicken leg.

James noticed Rose talking and laughing with a group of people but Albus looking lonely and was keeping to himself.

"Hey Al, wha'sa matter?" James asked through a mouthful of food.

"What? Oh, nothing." Albus said. But James wasn't stupid, he had saw Al reading the plaque.

So, he had finally figured it out. James had known about his parents for _ages. _He supposed he would have to talk to him later. James sighed, what a good brother he was, he thought while chucking a bit of potato at Albus' head.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The first week of classes had passed in a blur for Rose. The castle had continued to amaze her and she loved all her classes so far. Rose couldn't wait to do her homework either. Most of the Professors seemed nice too but Binns' class was boring as hell, she could probably just teach the class to herself. She had also made a ton of new friends including Abby, the girl Albus had been talking to on the train and a girl from Bulgaria named Veronica Krum.

The class Rose had most been looking forward to however was potions, she loved the idea of two things mixing together in just the right way to create something else, something useful or healing. This was her last class for the week and first ever potions class. It was double potions with the Slytherins. Her and Albus had been invited to Hagrids for tea, so they were going there right afterward.

She was sitting with Veronica, Albus and Abby in the class waiting for the potions master, Professor prince to begin the class.

"Ok, let's get started." Professor prince began. She was a tall, slim witch wearing rather drab, gray robes. "For our first assignment we will be working in pairs. We are trying a very simple potion today as an introduction to the class. It is a remedy to remove boils. I don't expect it to be perfect so don't worry."

Rose caught Albus' eye hoping they would be partners. However, the professor began naming off pairs.

"Finnigan with Smith, Potter with Mellark, Payne with Krum…" Until Rose was one of the last to be picked.

"Weasley with Malfoy." Finished the Proffesor.

Rose picked up her things and slowly made her way over to a table where a Slytherin boy with platinum blonde hair was sitting. So… this was the boy her parents had been talking about, warning her about. She knew their families were rivals but she didn't know all the details.

"A Weasley, hey?" He said as she sat down. He raised on eyebrow but didn't comment further.

Rose shrugged her shoulders and said "Do you have a problem with that, Malfoy?" She snapped back, instinctively switching to last names.

Scorpius smirked and shook his head. "Let's just start on the assignment."

"Fine." Rose replied and began chopping and preparing the ingredients as Scorpius heated up the cauldron. They worked in silence for several minutes. Their potion had now turned a rich blue colour. Rose was just about to add the powdered unicorn horn when a hand reached out and stopped her.

"What?" She huffed indignantly.

"You have to add the nectar first." Scorpius pointed to the written instructions on the board.

Jenn, from the table next to them snickered rather rudely at that and Rose could feel heat creeping up her cheeks.

"I knew that." She snapped back, but Rose could already feel herself turning Weasley-Scarlett.

"Of course you did." Malfoy smirked. The slytherin girl Jenn was outright laughing now and Scorpius looked rather pleased with himself.

Rose just continued with her work and added the nectar. She would show them, Rose would be the best in all her classes…

Albus looked across the room at Rose and smiled to himself. She was wearing an intense look of concentration on her face. Albus knew that look well, it was her "I'm-Rose-Weasley-and-I-am-going-to-beat-you" face. That Malfoy boy better be prepared…

Albus tuned in and out of what his partner, Abby was saying.

"And then I actually floated up to the plane-thingy! Can you believe that? Gave those muggles a bit of a fright, but it was alright in the end…" She was a nice girl and Albus was glad they were friends however, she did like to talk a lot and often took control of things. Like with this potion for instance, which was now a fluorescent pink colour, she was basically doing all the work. Which was fine with Albus, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

It had been a very exciting although tiring week. That first night he had so many thoughts and emotions running through his head he stayed awake for hours tossing and turning. Why had his parents never told him? How had he not figured it out- it was so obvious now that he knew. He guessed they had hid it from him to protect him, but still… Albus finally decided he couldn't take it anymore and went to find James.

To no one's surprise, James was still up, it looked like he was performing some sort of charm as his roommates toad was rapidly growing bigger and turning purple. When James saw Albus he sighed and put his finger to his lips, Albus nodded. James quickly stuffed the toad into his sleeping roommate's sheet (Albus thought his name was Troy?) and mouthed the word "run". Albus ran from the room quickly and went into the common room – he knew what James' pranks could be like.

Once they were in the common room they heard a loud yell from the boy's staircase and James cracked up laughing. A blonde boy clutching a purple toad came down the staircase.

"I am going to get you for this Potter!" The boy said. "Just you wait."

"Good luck with that Troy! You've been trying to prank me since first year!" James responded with a laugh.

Troy went back up the staircase muttering to himself.

"He sounds like Kreacher!" James said.

Albus shot him a look.

"What?" James said in response. "It was a harmless prank, he'll get over it." Albus just sighed, exasperated and sank down onto the couch in front of the slowly dying fire.

"So… "James started slowly "I saw you reading the plaque today." Albus just nodded.

"I can't believe you didn't know! I thought you were the smart one. I've known since I was seven!" James told him. Albus started to get up and leave, he wasn't in the mood for this.

"No wait, stay.' James said and Albus slowly sat back down. "Ok, what do you want to know?"

Albus and James talked for awhile about it all. There were times like these that James was a very good brother to have. And after their discussion Albus felt immensely better about it al, and the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. There was a part of him that had always known that his family was famous, he guessed he just hadn't wanted to admit it to himself.

The next morning he had got a letter from his parents explaining how James had told them what happened. The letter also explained the war and how an evil wizard named Voldemort had killed his grandparents, how the prejudice and lies in the wizarding world had created so much fear and hatred. How his dad had fought the evil wizard and won. (Albus was still a bit awestruck at this – his dad was a hero!). At the bottom of the letter was a note from his mum.

"Albus dear, please don't be upset with us for not telling you. We only did it to protect you, so you could live a normal life. And congratulations on making it to Gryffindor, your father and I are so proud!"

Truthfully Albus was a little mad at his parents for making him find out this way, but he was pretty much used to the idea by now – although it was still weird that everyone knew his name. A couple students had even asked to take a picture with him!

"And now we just add the scales and give it a few turns and voila!" Abby said. Albus shook himself out of his reverie and came back to potions class.

He smiled at Abby, the potion was now a dark orange colour. Class was almost over and soon he would be going to visit Hagrid with Rose and Abby. Professor Prince was coming around the classroom and checking the cauldrons. When she got to Rose and Scorpius she took a peek and said "Excellent! Top marks."

Scorpius held up a hand for a high five and Rose reluctantly returned it.

But, when the professor got to Albus and Abby's table she took one look at their potion – which was now emitting sparks and yelled frantically "Everyone get down!"

The class shrieked and dropped to their stomachs, just as there was a loud BANG and their potion exploded all over the classroom and coated the students in goo. Professor Prince stood up, coughed and cleaned up the potion with a couple flicks of her wand.

"Er, you might want to work on that Ms. Mellark, Mr. Potter."

**A/N – Hi everyone, thanks for reading! I'm enjoying writing this and would love to read anyone's reviews. **

**Does anyone have any ideas for a better summary? Because I can't come up with one and mine just isn't attention grabbing enough.**

**Thanks,**

**AbSim7**

_**Jenn – Is this long enough for you? :P  
Ria – Your character is introduced in the next chapter. **___


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rose, Albus and Abby were making their way down to Hagrid's hut walking along the winding pathway in the crisp autumn air. They had just come from their disastrous first potions class and Rose was still snickering at them.

"You should have seen your faces!" She said laughing. Albus said nothing as he was a bit embarrassed about the whole incident, Abby however laughed along with her.

"It was pretty funny wasn't it?" She said. Again Albus again said nothing. He had already resolved to do better in potions, he didn't want to let his parents down.

"We're here." Rose said brightly and knocked on the door. Immediately a dog started barking and Rose jumped back.

"Oh shut up Fang!" Said a gruff voice from behind the door. And with that, the door swung open and Hagrid stood beaming down at them.

"Come in, come in." He said "I've made yeh some rock cakes."

Albus stepped inside and so did Rose and Abby. They all took seats around a large table while the kettle boiled.

"Hagrid," Albus began "This is Abby, Abby this is Hagrid."

"Hi." She said nervously to the half-giant.

"Pleased to meet yeh." He replied. "And you must be Rose? Blimey. I haven't seen yeh since you was a baby, I haven't"

"It's nice to see you too Hagrid." Rose said with a smile.

"So tell me about your first week. Any Slytherins been buggin ya?" Hagrid asked them after pouring the tea.

"Not really," Albus replied "But that Payne girl does seem to have it out for Rose."

"Humph, she was just jealous because _my_ potion was better than hers." Rose replied haughtily. Then she smiled and said "Not like yours though." At which Abbby and even Albus started giggling.

"What happened to yer potion?" Hagrid wanted to know. So they told him all about their lesson and the explosion at the end. At the end of it, Hagrid was roaring with laughter.

"You three remind me of your parents, Harry, Ron and Hermione. The three of them were always gettin inter trouble." Hagrid said.

"Were they really?" Albus asked with wide eyes.

"Of course!" Hagrid replied. "Never met a more meddlesome lot in me life! Why this one time, they went into a forbidden corridor of the school and met me ol' pet fluffy…"

The four of them continued to talk and share stories all evening (though none of them ate many rock cakes), meanwhile…

James leaned back in his chair and grinned. He was serving detention with his cousin and partner-in-crime Roxanne. He forgot what the detention was for, something about disrupting the class and being disrespectful. It probably had to do with Roxanne and him setting the professor's desk on fire during transfiguration today. It was only a small fire though, not detention-worthy in the least!

James had been in this situation a lot though. He and Roxanne liked a laugh, just like Roxanne's dad Uncle George. Admittedly, they had brought the trouble maker reputation onto themselves. Ever since September of last year, when they had made all of the toilets simultaneously explode, the teachers had had it out for them. That prank was completely worth it though as the two were known around school as the "prankster twins" a reputation they both thoroughly enjoyed. But now they were in detention for just a teensy little fire! The professor had given them lines to write "I will not set desks on fire during class." Bit stupid really.

James waited until professor Stratas had stepped out of the class and then pulled out his map. It wasn't technically "his" map as he had taken from his Dad's desk last year. He had showed it to Teddy Lupin because he knew he wouldn't rat him out and Teddy had helped him figure out how to work it. Whoever Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs were, James owed them a good deal.

He scanned over the map and watched as Proffesor Stratas' dot moved towards the teacher's lounge. The muggle studies professor was there as well. Excellent, James thought. He wasn't sure why those two always spent so much time together, but James had a sneaking suspicion that the two had a hidden romance. They would be awhile then.

"Hey Roxanne?" James called over to her,

"Yes, James?" She replied in a sweet sing-song voice. The picture of innocence, HA!

"Up for a bit of an adventure?" He asked her.

"Do you even have to ask?" She replied.

They decided to sneak out towards the Ravenclaw tower. Roxanne had a bag of dungbombs she was dying to use and the Ravenclaws_ had_ been exceptionally annoying lately.

"Ok," James said when they arrived "Let's split up. You go down that hallway and set a couple of them off, I'll guard the hallway."

"Right." Roxanne nodded and took off down the hallway.

James stood in there in the hallway for a few moments waiting, when he started to hear footsteps. A redheaded ravenclaw girl in his grade rounded the corner.

"What are you doing here?" She asked suspiciously. Ok James, he thought to himself, keep cool. He had to keep her distracted for awhile. What was her name again Barnes – something?

"I could ask the same about you." James replied loftily.

"Well if you must know, I was on my way to the lavatory when I –"Suddenly there was a loud bang, Roxanne had set off the first dungbomb.

"What was that?" She demanded. Ria! That was her name, Ria Barnes.

"Er, what was what?" James said.

"That noise! Listen there it goes again! And… What's that smell?" Uh-oh thought James.

"JAMES POTTER!" the girl –Ria- exploded. "ARE YOU SETTING OFF DUNGBOMBS NEAR MY DORMITORY?" Wow, James thought, she's got a set of lungs to rival my mother's – and that's saying something.

"Well you see –"James started to say, but she cut him off.

"I know all about you James Potter, and how everyone thinks you're so cool. But you know what? You're nothing but an annoying prankster!" And with that she whipped out her wand from beneath her robes.

James had almost no time to react before she yelled "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" And he fell over, stiff as a board.

She ran off then, just as Roxanne came back down the hallway.

"James are you alright, I thought I heard-"As soon as she took sight of him on the floor she started laughing so hard there were tears streaming in her eyes. It took her two tries because of the laughter but she finally managed the counter-curse and freed James from the body-bind.

James got up and grunted. "Come on," he said "She's probably getting a professor." And with that, they sprinted back into class, just in time to sit in their desks and catch their breath before Stratas walked in.

"Your detention is finished. " She said "I hope you two have learned your lesson."

**A/N – Hi everyone, sorry about the long wait between chapters (two weeks!) but I've been extraordinarily busy. Hopefully it won't happen again as it is now the Christmas break (yippee!) and I will try to get ahead with my writing.**

**Review if you feel like it! :P**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

James was fuming; he was pacing back and forth in an empty corridor. It was a Saturday morning, the day after his "detention" with Roxanne and his run-in with Ria Barnes.

An annoying prankster? How dare she! His pranks were quality! Perfect little Ravenclaw Ria. She thought she was so smart, didn't she? But what really made James' blood boil, was the fact that she had jinxed him so easily.

"I need a place to learn how to duel" he thought "I need somewhere to practice, somewhere the teachers won't find me..."

"Whoa!" James said aloud as what had once been solid wall was now a huge oak door. "What the-?"  
James cautiously pushed open the door and felt his jaw drop. He was in a large, spacious room that had certainly never been there before and seemed to be perfect for learning Defense Against the Dark Arts. There were mats on the floor, a training dummy and walls of books about defensive theory. The room smelt faintly of smoke.

"Wicked!" James said to the room. "I wonder what this place is?" Almost instantly a book appeared on the nearest shelf. James picked it up."A brief history of the Room of Requirment" James read. "Brief? This thing is like a thousand pages!"

James skimmed through the book. The room was invented by the Hogwarts founders, it gives whatever the user may need with the exception of food, blah, blah, blah. James skipped to the near the end of the book and certain phrases caught his eye –the room was used often by a group calling themselves the Mauraders, it was used by many staff and students to hide things, the room was used as an illegal Defense Against the Dark Arts group led by Harry Potter, it was used by - wait what was that last one?

James turned back a few pages. The book read "During his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter created an illegal group that called themselves Dumbledore's Army. The group's aim was to teach themselves Defense Against the Dark Arts and learn how to defend themselves against the dark wizard Lord Voldemort. The group was also created to rally against the Ministry of Magic and the witch Dolores Umbridge."

James grinned to himself, so his Dad had been a troublemaker as well? And he had used this room? James looked around the room once more and noticed a sort-of display on a small table. He would look at it later.

James flipped to the last page of the book. "The room of requirement has been out of use for 19 years, as it was burned by Fiend Fyre during the Battle of Hogwarts." Well that explains the smoky smell,  
James thought. "Many believed the room to be destroyed, but it was slowly restoring itself waiting for a worthy student to re-open for."

"Cool." James said out loud. "Okay enough reading, reading is for people like Rose and Albus." James made a face at the thought.

He grabbed his wand and aimed at the dummy. He practiced Expelliarmus, Petrificus Totalus and any other jinxes and hexes he could think of. It didn't take long for him to run out of spells though, his repertoire was unsurprisingly small. He supposed he would have to read some of the books, but later. For now, James went over to look at the display that he had seen earlier.

There was a picture of someone named Cedric Diggory and a list of names. At the top of the list were the names: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. James beamed. Also on the list were the names Fred, George and Ginny Weasley.

James was so proud of finding a room that his parents and his family had used. Even his Uncle Fred had used it! James looked around in awe. He would do the room justice – maybe he could start a secret dueling club! With a final glance, James left the room to tell Roxanne and the gang all about it and as he stepped out, the door faded back into a wall.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"James slow down!" Roxanne exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

James had just run all the way to the Gryffindor common room from the Room of Requirement to tell his friends about what he had just found. Troy, Erica, Roxanne and Louis were all seated near the fire and James couldn't wait to tell them about it.

"Secret room… dueling…. my parents…" James wheezed, out of breath from his sprint up the stairs.

"James you know you're not making since right mate?" Said Troy. James noddedvigorously still trying to catch his breath.

"Just relax and tell us from the beginning." Said Erica with a smile. James shot her a grateful look, took a deep breath and launched into his story. They all listened with rapt attention.

"… And then when I left, the door melted back into the wall!" James finished, excitement all over his features.

"Wicked!" Exclaimed Roxanne. "I want to see it! Let's go now."

"I'm in!" Said Troy.

"Me too." Said Louis and Erica. They all looked at James expectantly.

"I knew you'd like it!" James said happily. "I was thinking we could start a secret dueling club or something."

"You said our family used it?" Louis Weasley asked. James nodded. "Then I think it's a great idea, but we should ask the rest of the Weasleys."

"You're right." Said Roxanne. "Our cousins would want in on this too. But don't tell Victoire – she'd probably turn us in to the Professors." Roxanne made a face.

"Alright," said Louis. "I'll tell Dominique and Molly."

"I'll tell Lucy and Fred." Roxanne volunteered.

"So that leaves me with Albus and Rose." James said. As Roxanne and Louis ran off to tell their older cousins, James saw Troy and Erica exchange a bemused expression. They were often surrounded by the Wealsey clan with James and Roxanne as friends. James stuck his tongue at them and then went off to find Albus.

"Oi, Albus!"

Albus looked up from the Potions essay he was working on and saw James come charging into the room.

"Hey." Said Albus. "What's going on?"

James started off on some long story about a magical room and his parents learning Defense Against the Dark Arts. Normally Albus wouldn't believe him and would think it was some trick, but James had too many details about the room for it to be a prank… he hoped.

"So the rest of us want to start a dueling club. What do you think?" James asked.

Albus thought about it - following in his parents footsteps, doing something they had done, well that seemed really cool to Albus. But still, it was James idea and doing unsupervised magic didn't seem very safe.

"I dunno." Albus replied. "Won't it be kind of dangerous?"

"Aww, come on! Lighten up, what could go wrong? We'll have Molly and Lucy there and they're fifth and sixth years. Scared of breaking the rules little brother?" James said with a glint in his eyes.

"No." Albus replied adamantly. He hated when James treated him like this, like he was just some stupid little kid.

"So are you coming or not?" James asked.

"I'm in." Said Albus, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

"Excellent," James beamed. "Where's Rose?"

"I'm not sure." Albus said. "I haven't seen her all day, she's probably at the library studying."

"Should I go get her?" James asked.

"No," Albus said quickly. "You do not want to interrupt Rose while studying – trust me." Albus winced at the thought. The last time he had done it, he had been jinxed so bad he couldn't sit down properly for days.

"Alright then, let's go." James said. "Unless you're too scared that is." He added with a daring smirk.

Albus was boiling with anger inside and brushed past him as he left. His brother really knew how to get to him.

James looked around at his family and friends in the Room of Requirement. It had only taken about a half hour to get everyone organized and into the room (10 minutes of that was James trying to figure out how to get back in, maybe he should have read more of the book after all.)

After everyone's initial excitement over the room and they had all gone exploring, they were now gathered in the center of the room and everyone seemed to be looking at James. James was feeling a bit nervous and now wasn't entirely sure what to say.

He looked over at Erica who smiled and nodded. That gave James courage.

"Right," he said. "I was thinking we could all get into pairs and just warm-up with disarming spells. Then I was hoping that some of the older students could teach us some advanced spells?"

Molly, Dominique and Lucy nodded.

"Excellent," James said. "Everyone partner up."

Albus went off to duel with Abby, and James was just about to pair off with Troy when Roxanne came over, grabbed Troy and said brightly "Let's work together!" then she practically pushed Erica into him and said "James you work with Erica." Then she shot Erica a look and trotted off.

Weird, thought James. For some reason Erica was blushing.

"Ok then." James shrugged and partnered up with Erica.

The rest of the session went really well, James and Erica were well matched and managed to disarm the other a few times each. After that, Molly and Lucy taught them the Stunning spell and Dominique tried to teach them the Jelly Legs Jinx and the Bat Bogey Hex. When it was over everyone looked like they had enjoyed it and they all agreed to do it again next week.

"Great!" James said to everyone as they were leaving. "You were really good Erica." James told her.

"Thanks!" she said, smiling and blushing. Why did she keep doing that?

Roxanne nudged her and waggled her eyebrows, Erica stuck out her tongue back and then they ran out of the room whispering.

James looked at Troy and he shrugged. Troy looked just as confused as he did of their friends' strange behavior.

"Fancy finding out what they're whispering about?" James asked Troy while pulling out two extendable ears from his pocket.

Troy grinned at him.

_Meanwhile…_

Rose was sitting in the library just going over the finishing touches on her potions essay. So a Bezoar is found in the bottom of a gats stomach… no a goat not a gat, Rose thought fixing her mistake.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" A voice beside her asked. Startled, Rose looked up, she hadn't noticed anyone walking in and the library was practically empty. Rose realized the voice was coming from Scorpius and that she still hadn't answered him. He sat down next to her anyway.

"I don't bite you know." He said with a smile tugging on his lips.

"Oh sorry, I was lost in thought." Rose said and gestured to the Potions essay she was working on.

"Is that for Prince's class? Mind if I take a look?"

"Go ahead."

Scorpius picked up the scroll and read it over. "It looks good," he said "but you did two more inches than she assigned."

"What can I say?" Rose said "I'm an overachiever. And I love Potions class." She added with a slight smile.

"Me too," said Scorpius. "it was my Father's favourite class in school as well."

"Your Father?" Rose asked. "Oh." Rose suddenly realized what she was doing - she was hving a conversation with Scorpius _Malfoy_. A Malfoy! Their parents were enemies, his Father had been a Death Eater!

"Rose!" Malfoy said waving his hands in front of her face. She realized she had been spacing out. "What's wrong?" He frowned.

"Oh nothing." Rose said in a small voice. "I - I should go." She started to gather her things and stood up.

Malfoy looked confused for a second but then, got a cold look in his eyes. "Oh I get it." He said in a flat voice.

"I – I'm sorry… it's just that our parents… and your dad was…" Rose was at a loss for words.

"A Death Eater?" Scorpius filled in for her dryly.

"Well, yes." Rose said lamely.

"Well in case you haven't noticed Rose, I am not my Father and I'm sick of being judged for who he was instead of what I am." Scorpius looked angry now. "You know, I thought you would understand. You're parents are Hermione and Ron Weasley – how does it feel to be compared to them?"

Rose felt very conflicted, obviously her parents wouldn't want her to be friends with Scorpius – they had said as much on Platform 9 3/4 – but Scorpius was making a lot of sense. And he didn't seem like such a bad guy.

"I know our parents don't like each other," he continued. "but that doesn't mean we couldn't still be friends. So if you want to be your own person than stay if not then leave. Whatever." Scorpius looked at her with almost a challenge on his face.

Rose slowly sat back down. "You're right I'm sorry." She smiled at him tentatively and he smiled back, after a long moment she looked away.

"So about that potions essay… "

**A/N – Hey everyone! I hope you all had a good holiday – I know I did **

**I hope this chapter makes up for my very short previous one, but the timeline didn't fit - I hope you understand. Anyway I will be fixing some errors on my previous chapters so if you get a bunch of annoying emails I'm sorry! It's just some spelling and grammar mistakes so the story won't change.**

**AbSim7 **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_Recap: "Great!" James said to everyone as they were leaving. "You were really good Erica." James told her._

"_Thanks!" she said, smiling and blushing. Why did she keep doing that?_

_Roxanne nudged her and waggled her eyebrows, Erica stuck out her tongue back and then they ran out of the room whispering._

_James looked at Troy and he shrugged. Troy looked just as confused as he did of their friends' strange behavior. _

"_Fancy finding out what they're whispering about?" James asked Troy while pulling out two extendable ears from his pocket._

_Troy grinned at him._

…

"_I know our parents don't like each other," he continued. "but that doesn't mean we couldn't still be friends. So if you want to be your own person than stay, if not then leave. Whatever." Scorpius looked at her with almost a challenge on his face._

_Rose slowly sat back down. "You're right I'm sorry."_

…..

James and Troy followed Roxanne and Erica all the way to the Library, where they sat down at a table in a sunlit corner and continued their conversation. James beckoned Troy to behind a bookshelf and pulled the invisibility cloak onto them. They then pulled out the extendable ears and focused in on the girls' conversation.

"What do you mean?" Whispered Erica.

"I mean I think he fancies you!" Roxanne replied. James turned to Troy and raised his eyebrows at this and saw that Troy had turned beet red. But there was no time to pursue this because the girls were still talking.

"Of course he doesn't!" Erica told Roxanne.

"Well he complimented you and picked you to be partners –"

"Only because you forced it that way!" Erica cut her off. "Just because_ I_ fancy _him_ does not mean you can – what was that?"

After hearing the bit about Erica fancying someone, Troy had shot up so suddenly and knocked into the bookshelf causing a huge THUMP and now both girls got up to look at it. Thankfully they had the invisibility cloak and James covered his mouth with his hands so as not to make any noise.

"It was probably just Peeves." Said Roxanne dismissively "Come on let's go back to the common room."

James let out a sigh of relief and pulled the cloak off of them as the girls disappeared from sight.

"Well… err… congrats I guess." Troy said without looking at him.

"For what?" James blinked and looked up somewhat stupidly. Then he grinned. "Oh ya. It seems that dear old Erica has a crush on me. Can't say that I blame her – what with my dashing good looks and charm I doubt that-"James was cut off by something large and solid hitting him in the side of the head.

"What was that for?" Yelled James angrily.

"The book, uh slipped." Said Troy. "I have to go, um polish my broomstick. See you later." Troy left.

Wow his friends were acting weird, James thought. So Erica fancied him? That was cool, but he wasn't sure if he fancied her. Sure he liked her and she was pretty… well he'd just wait and see what would come of it. James wondered what was bothering Troy though?

**[Paragraph Gap]**

Albus was in Herbology class with the other Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in his year.

"Today we will be looking at a plant called the Devil's Snare." Said Proffesor Longbottom. "It is a highly dangerous plant which is why we are only looking at it today, tomorrow we will be dealing with it hands on. Now can anyone tell me how to fight Devil's Snare?"

To no one's surprise Rose's hand shot into the air.

Proffesor Longbottom smiled to himself for some reason and said "Yes Miss Weasley?"

"Devil's Snare is controlled using fire."

"Excellent. 10 points to Gryffindor." Now as I was saying…"

Just then the door opened and two Hufflepuff Girls entered that Albus only vaguely knew. They apologized to the Proffesor for being late and took a spot next to Albus and Abby.

Proffesor Longbottom continued with the class but the two girls seemed very distracted, they were whispering furiously to one another and Albus couldn't help but overhear them.

"You have to tell someone about this!" the brown eyed girl hissed.

"Just leave it alone ok? I'm fine." Her friend responded.

"No you're not fine! Look at you you're covered in bruises, what happened?"

"I told you! I don't know – I just turned a corner and someone shot a stunning spell at me. Then you showed up thankfully."

"But what did they say?"

"I'm not really sure… Something that sounded like "budbood" but that makes no sense at all does it?"

The girl gave a sharp intake of breath and said "This is very serious – did you see what they looked like?"

"No but they were wearing some sort of symbol on them- it was sort of like a star. What does that mean, budbood? Is it some wizard family term that I haven't learned yet?"

"No" The girl replied. "It's not budblood, I think they were trying to say a very insulting word. I think they were calling you a –"

"Please continue your conversation elsewhere Miss. Marnie you are disrupting the class!" Proffesor Longbottom told her reprovingly.

She nodded her head meekly at him, but when she looked up Albus saw worry in her eyes and she was biting her lip.

Albus didn't need her to finish her sentence to know what she was going to say. Mudblood, not budblood. If this was true, it was very serious. If someone was attacking a girl just because she was Muggle-Born it would be terrible! It was what his Father had fought against – that kind of prejudice shouldn't be around anymore.

Maybe she had heard wrong – Albus really hoped so. But if something like this was happening it needed to be stopped. He would keep his ears open and try to find out more.

**[Paragraph Gap]**

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_ Hogwarts has been wonderful so far, just as you said it would be. I love all my classes especially potions – I don't get why you hated it so much Dad .However I do find the workload to be a bit heavy but nevertheless I am working hard and hope to be top of the class when we receive our end of term reports._

_Albus and I have a new friend named Abby and the three of us have visited Hagrid often. He told me to tell you that he won't be "takin' em ter see Grawp ti'l third year, so dun' cha worry." whatever that means. But he did mention something about being on good terms with the Acromantula again so he could take us to see them. Isn't that a type of spider? _

_James has started up some secret dueling club (don't tell him I told you!) in the Room of Requirement. It's actually quite fun and a good way to practice spells. There's also some memorabilia from before the war, including a picture of someone named Cedric Diggory and a list of your names._

_Anyway, send my love to Hugo, Lily and the rest of the family._

_Rose Weasley_

Rose looked up from her letter and sighed. She still hadn't told her parents about her friendship with Scorpius, she was too scared to. Scared of their reactions and that they might forbid them from being friends. She stuffed the letter into the envelope, rolled it and tied it onto her owl Parandis' leg.

"Hey Rose!" Scorpius called to her with a smile and sat down next to her.

"Hey," she said "I was just thinking about you."

"Well of course you were." He said in a haughty voice and imitated flipping his hair.

Rose laughed loudly and her cousin Victoire shot her a dark look and said "Excuse me Rose, but some of us are trying to study." In the same haughty voice Scorpius had just imitated which only made them collapse into silent giggles.

They started to speak again but Victoire kept giving them the stink eye so they started passing notes.

_How were Quidditch tryouts? _

**Alright, but they don't usually take first years and some of the older players were much quicker catching the Snitch.**

_My dad played when he was a first year._

**Yes but he was one of the best seekers Hogwarts has ever seen.**

_You can do it Scorpius!_

**Thanks Rose **

_So what else is new?_

**James threatened me again**

_Ugh. I'll make him stop I promise._

**I can take care of myself.**

Rose rolled her eyes at him and sighed. James did NOT approve of this friendship at all. He was being completely unfair! He wouldn't even take the chance to get to know Scorpius and kept telling him stupid things like "Leave my cousin alone or I'll show you what it means to be a Potter!" He even yelled at Rose for hanging out with Scorpius and threatened to tell her parents. She had hoped that Albus would defend her but he was too scared to say anything to James and only really tolerated Scorpius. Why did her family have to be so complicated?

**A/N – Well I haven't updated in a LONG time and I'm sorry for that. I had kind of lost interest in this story but thanks to a wonderful review from AlabasterLily and decided to keep writing. I hope you all like this chapter and please let me know what you think. **

**AbSim7**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Mr. Potter you are late again, please sit down." The strict defense against the dark arts teacher said.

James scowled and then sat down in the only available desk. His scowl deepened when he saw who he was sitting next to. It was that annoying, prissy Ria Barnes from Ravenclaw. The girl who had out dueled him, the girl who had insulted him and called him an annoying prankster!

"Alright class, with your desk mates I want you to come up with seven dark creatures and explain how to properly defend yourself from them."

"Potter." Ria sneered at him.

"Barnes." James replied equally coolly. They glared at each other for a full two minutes before James finally looked away and said "Well, get started then."

"Excuse me?" Ria asked, raising her eyebrows.

James looked at her as if she were a two year old and incapable of understanding simple English. "The assignment, aren't you going to start? It's not going to complete itself you know."

RIa looked as if she might punch something. "So let me get this straight, you expect me to just do the entire assignment myself? The one that was assigned to both of us?"

"Yup, that sounds about right." James replied with a shrug.

Ria looked as though she was struggling with herself to not lash out at James. He stared at her as she attempted to calm herself down. She finally let out a breath and said "I'm not going to work on it if you aren't." and crossed her arms.

"Fine." James replied. "I was only joking anyway don't take everything so seriously." He shot her a cheeky grin.

Ria looked as though she was trying not to hit James again, so he hastily started on the assignment. "Grindylows are found in lakes correct?"

They continued working until near the end of the class when James turned to Ria and said "You know I wasn't really ready the last time when you attacked me, but I could definitely beat you in a dueling competition."

RIa just snorted at him and gave him a disbelieving look.

"I'm serious!" James said. "It's not like Ravenclaws are any good at dueling anyway."

Ria stood up and in a loud voice said "You take that back right now James Potter!"

James stood up as well and said "No I won't take it back, because according to you, I'm a big-headed fool!" He wasn't sure what it was, but something about her made him so angry.

"Too right you are!" Ria snapped back at him. By this point they had drew the attention of not only the rest of class, but of the professor.

"That will be quite enough!" Said the Proffesor in a stern voice. "Please take your seat Mr. Potter and Miss Barnes. I will be seeing you both in detention."

"But-" Said Ria, at the same time that James said "That's not-"

The Proffesor cut them off with "Would you like to make it a weeks' worth? Now I suggest you all get back to work."

… …

"Hey." Rose waved to Scorpius a little frantically and set down the large pile of school books she was carrying on the library table and took a seat next to him.

"Hey, yourself." Scorpius smiled at her, but it didn't quite seem to meet his eyes.

"Phew!" exclaimed Rose as she sat down and started rubbing her feet. "You won't believe the day I've been having! I stayed up late to finish a transfiguration assignment, I had almost – " Rose cut off as she realized that something was bothering Scorpius. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"You haven't heard, have you?" he replied sadly.

"Heard what?" Rose asked, slightly anxious now at the tone of his voice. Scorpius took a deep breath and then slowly let it out before he began.

"Well, you know the Hufflepuff girl Lisa in our year?" Rose nodded her head in confirmation. "Well she's in the hospital wing." Rose's hands flew to her mouth.

"What for? Is she okay?" she asked frantically.

"She's fine." Scorpius assured her. "She came into the wing with a curse that was inflicted on her, the word 'mudblood' was written across her forehead."

Rose could only look at Scorpius in shock. They locked eyes and countless, wordless communications passed through them as if they were connected. Hadn't her father fought against this oppression and prejudice? It shouldn't be around anymore! They had to find out who did this, she would tell James – he would know what to do. But then, she thought, wouldn't James find a way to blame Scorpius? Maybe Scorpius was responsible… But no, she knew him; he would never do something like this, and looking into his eyes she saw only sadness and a little fear. The moment was so intense and they were leaning closer and closer towards each other until –

"Well isn't this cute?" A high- pitched voice sneered. Rose and Scorpius sprang apart, to see Jenn Payne watching them with an almost fanatical gleam in her eye. "Scorpius, I thought you'd have better taste than this."

"Watch what you're saying Jenn." Scorpius warned.

"Oh, you don't want me to tell Rose what you said last night then?" Jenn asked in a falsely innocent voice.

"What happened last night?" Rose asked Scorpius sharply. Scorpius shook his head slightly but other than that ignored Rose.

"Just leave it alone Jenn." He almost growled to the black-haired girl.

Jenn shrugged her shoulders and said "Fine, but if I were you Rose, I wouldn't be hanging out with someone who said that I wasn't worth my family." Jenn tossed her hair and walked out of sight.

"You said that?" Roses asked with tears in her eyes.

"Rose that's not what I – It's not, it's just that –" Scorpius sighed and said "I don't know how to explain it."

"Fine then, if that's how you feel." Rose said coldly and started gathering up her things.

"Rosie wait, it's not what it seems like!"

"Whatever, Malfoy." She said to him and quickly left the library. Scorpius put his head on his hands and sat at the table for a long while.

…

"You will spend this hour in detention, cleaning the graffiti off of these desks – without magic. I will check in on you shortly." Said the Professor and she left with a swish of her cloak.

Ria and James were in an unused classroom filled with old, heavily marked up desks. It was late, almost 11 o clock. As soon as the Proffesor was gone James pulled out his map and watched as her tiny labeled dot headed towards the teacher's lounge. He figured that he would probably have a good quarter of an hour before she decided to check in on them again. He stood up and stretched and then pulled out his cloak.

"What are you doing?" A sharp voice asked. James cringed, he had forgotten that Ria would be there to watch him make his escape. But James tried to play it cool and merely shrugged.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm sneaking out." James told her.

"Won't Professor Stratas notice you're gone?"

"Well, I'll come back." James said in a mocking voice.

Ria huffed and said "I won't cover for you if she comes back before you. And how will you explain the desks that are still gratified?" James frowned, he hadn't thought of that, but with a flick of his wrist he cleaned off two of the desks and turned towards the door again.

"Wait!" Ria suddenly shouted.

James cursed under his breath, he was running out of time. "What now?" he demanded, exasperated.

Ria's cheeks were slightly pink as she said "I want to come with you!"

"Fine!" James said, he didn't have time to argue. "Get under the cloak." Ria grinned and together they slowly made their way along a corridor under the cloak.

"Where are we going?" Ria hissed.

"Shhh," said James "Just follow me." James actually wasn't so sure where they were going, he really just wanted to get out of detention. James realized that they were headed towards the kitchen and decided that they might as well get some food out of this. He hurried their pace until they were right outside the painting of the pear. James pulled the cloak off himself and was surprised when Ria didn't immediately pull it off as well. Annoyed he turned around to see what was going on and then he realized his mistake.

"Harry?" It was Nev –Professor Longbottom, who had just seen him take off his cloak in the hallway in the middle of the night. He was busted.

"Oh James it's you." He said when he got nearer. "I thought I had gone back twenty-five years! You looked just like your father." He chuckled. "I forgot your Dad had that old cloak," he said almost wistfully "used to make more trouble than it was worth he did."

"Really?" said James "Like what? He told me he behaved at school!"

Neville just laughed and said "Try asking Hagrid, I'm sure he's got some stories to tell. Now, about this whole matter of you being up at night." He looked at him sternly.

"Listen Professor, I was just-"

"I was never here." Said Neville with a wink and then disappeared around a corridor. James grinned and then got back under the cloak, he realized they had run out of time and so he took off as fast as the cloak would let them, with Ria trailing behind him as they raced back to the defense room. They made it back before the Professor and started scrubbing graffiti off the desks before they could get caught.

"I can't believe you got out of that!" Said Ria "That's exactly what I meant, you get treated specially just because Harry Potter is your Dad."

"Well would you have rather we got caught?" Snapped James angrily. It wasn't like he had asked for any special treatment and besides, he knew Neville from outside of Hogwarts.

"Well I wasn't the one stupid enough to get caught now was I?" Ria cried at him. At that moment the Professor came back in the door before James could reply.

"Well I hope you've all learned something from this." She said after inspecting their job.

"Ravenclaws are annoying?" James muttered under his breath. They both shot him death glares.

_**A/N – I'm so, so sorry for the slowness of the updates. Really! Feel free to yell at me about it via reviews…**_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Did you hear?" "Did you hear?" That was all Albus heard anyone talking about – Lisa Brown was in the hospital wing with "MUDBLOOD" written across her forehead. The teachers had taken them all aside for a lesson on prejudice and bullying but it was increasingly uncomfortable for Albus as his Father's name was mentioned often and he felt like everyone was staring at him. He should go talk to James, they should ask their Dad – he would know what to do about this.

…

James was sitting in the common room, just thinking. Thinking about what Ria had said – did he really get treated differently? Did he really receive special treatment? When he noticed Albus coming up to him James pushed all his feelings aside and said

"What's up little bro?" in a who cares attitude.

"I think we should tell Mom and Dad." Albus said bluntly and without preamble.

"About what? The hospital thing?" James asked him and Albus nodded his head. James generally had an aversion to telling authority figures anything truthful but this was actually a very serious issue and his father would definitely be able to help. But then again, maybe what Ria had said was true (why couldn't that girl stay out of his head?) maybe he did rely on his Father's status too much.

"No." He told Albus. "We'll deal with it ourselves."

"I really think we should tell our parents" said Albus with a stern voice. James knew he was probably right, but he had made up his mind and he wasn't going to change it.

"Listen, Albus sometime you're going to have to man up and do things for yourself. What do you think we've been practicing duelling for? You're always so shy and scared all the time. Grow up a little!" James knew these words would sting Albus, and as soon as he said them he wished he could take them back. But he couldn't and the words hung there, heavy in the air.

"Fine." Albus replied coolly and walked off, but James saw the look of hurt that had flashed across his face.

…

"Why would you say those things to Rose?" Scorpius exploded to Jenn that evening in their common room.

"I was just trying to help." Jenn replied in a falsely sweet voice. "I mean you have to let her know you like her sometime. " She said that almost bitterly but Scorpius barely noticed as he was so caught up in thoughts of Rose.

"But you made it sound like, I was insulting her and now she won't talk to me. " Scorpius accused her.

"Oh did I? Oh well." Jenn then pulled on his arm and said "Now come with me – we're going somewhere."

"Now?" Scorpius asked with a groan.

"Yes, now hurry up – it's important!"

"Why am I friends with you again?" Scorpius asked in a sarcastic tone.

Jenn just stuck out her tongue at him.

…

James was sitting on his four poster bed (it had the initials H.P. scratched into the headboard) and was scanning the Mauraders map. He was not – he told himself sternly – looking to see where Ria was, he was just wasting time really. James noticed that a group of about nine dots were headed towards the trophy room which was usually unoccupied, and upon closer inspection realized that most of the names he recognized as pureblood Slytherins. They could not be up to any good.

Jame's thoughts started to race at this new development. This could possibly be the reason behind the muggle-born girl in the hospital wing. At the very least he should go check it out.

James ran into the common room and looked for any Weasleys that he could find, he quickly spotted Roxanne, Albus, Rose and Albus' friend Abby. He quickly explained to them about the Slytherin gathering and they agreed to go check it out. Albus was the first to respond and James supposed that his talk had really gotten to him.

They decided that James and Roxanne would go first under the invisibility cloak since they were oldest and that Albus, Rose and Abby would stay a bit behind as back-up and if James needed them he would call out "Gryffindor!"

"Alright, let's go, I know a shortcut but we still need to hurry."

…

"Where are you taking me?" Scorpius whined.

"Just hold on we'll be there in a second." Jenn replied as she led him towards the Trophy room. Scorpius thought that it was rather odd they were going here – did Jenn win a trophy or something? She opened the door but had a bit of trouble closing it, and Scorpius could swear he thought he heard a voice exclaim "Ow, my toe!" But Jenn was already moving into the room and there was no time to investigate. He realized that they were not alone in the room.

There were about five other Slytherins in the room, the oldest of which was a chubby third year boy who was glaring at them all menacingly. His name was Nott something – Henry Nott if Scorpius remembered correctly.

"Nice of you to join us," he sneered at them sarcastically. Jenn blushed and sat down on the floor with the others and gestured for Scorpius to do the same. "Now that we are all here, we can begin our first official meeting of the P.B.U. – Pure Bloods United."

Scorpius looked over at Jenn in horror "A pureblood supremacist group? Why would you take me here?" he hissed at her.

"It's time for you to accept your roots." She whispered back to him.

"Not like this! What about that girl in the hospital wing?" he shot back at her.

Jenn looked slightly nervous at that "That was just a mistake." She replied uneasily.

"A mistake!" Scorpius said angrily his voice much louder now. "She had the word Mudblood tattooed across her fore-" Scorpius was cut off by a very loud cry of "GRYFFINDOR!" and a commotion in the corner as two people appeared out of nowhere and three more people appeared in the doorway. That's when chaos broke loose with spells flying everywhere and bouncing off of shiny silver and gold trophies. Everything was loud, with shouts and the pinging of spells hitting trophies.

Scorpius stood up to get out of there and came face to face with Rose Weasley, who had a look on her face of such anger and betrayal it caused him to take a step backwards. Scorpius opened his mouth to explain, when a vicious cry of "Impendimenta!" issued from fiery Rose Weasley cut him off. He was definitely in trouble with her.

**A/N – I hope you are enjoying my story and the next chapter will be up very soon. Only two chapters left! I`ll love you if you review!**


	10. Chapter 10

CH 10

"Quickly! Quickly!" James hissed at Roxanne under the cloak.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Roxanne exclaimed. They were following two Slytherins – one boy with silvery blonde hair and one girl with raven black hair. Rose, Albus and Abby were a couple of corridors behind them. The Slytherin girl opened the door and James and Roxanne darted forward just in time, although the door did come down on James foot and he couldn't help but to let loose a cry of "Ow, my toe!`` but thankfully no one noticed.

They slowly moved to a back corner of the room and took in the scene before them. The third year bully Henry Nott stood at the front of the room glaring at the gathered Slytherins and said "Now that we are all here, we can begin our first official meeting of the P.B.U. – Pure Bloods United."

James looked at Roxanne in shock. So he was right! This must have been the source of why Lisa was in the hospital. He tuned back in to what Nott was saying "… purebloods being, as the name implies purest and the most clean of the human race…"

James decided he had heard enough, he looked at Roxanne and she nodded. With a scream of "GRYFFINDOR!" James whipped off the invisibility cloak. Almost immediately curses started flying. James dodged a "Petrificus Totalus" spell and then blocked an "Expelliarmus" with the Shield spell.

By this point Albus and Abby had joined them and they were fighting side by side against six Slytherin attackers. Rose was nowhere in sight. James was fighting furiously against one second year boy and he watched peripherally as Roxanne knocked out a Slytherin girl, right before she was taken out by someone else. James grit his teeth together and managed to stun the boy he was dueling with and moved on to face his next attacker.

Albus had already taken out two Slytherins of them with the Body Bind Curse and was now fighting Henry Nott. Abby had lost her wand and was searching for it frantically but she was hit by a Stunning Spell. With Albus dueling Henry, that left James up against three attackers, the odds weren't good but James was not about to give up.

Suddenly the door burst open and Ria Barnes appeared holding out her wand. "Happy to see me Potter?" she asked with a smirk before joining his side in battle.

"I never thought I'd say this," James said to her "but for once I actually am."

…

Rose pushed open the door after hearing James' cry of "Gryffindor!" and took in the scene before her, Albus and Abby immediately went to join James and Roxanne, but Rose was only focused on one thing – the little traitor Scorpius Malfoy! Rose felt her blood boil. He was _here_? After everything they had talked about? Everything he said he didn't want to be! What a lying scumbag!

Rose raised her arm at him and shouted "Impendimenta" but unfortunately missed her target.

Rose started backing him away from the rest of the fight, firing curses at him and barely noticing that he wasn't fighting back.

"I cannot believe you!" she screeched at him.

"Rose listen –" Scorpius started to say but Rose cut him off. They were now backing up out of the trophy room and were headed toward an empty classroom.

"After everything you told me! Stupefy! About not wanting to be like your family! Petrificus Totalus!" Rose was quite angry now and her aim was becoming worse with her rage. Scorpius dodged the spells she shot at him and tried to say something but Rose cut him off. "And you come here? Don`t you realise what these people stand for? What they did?"

"I know!" Scorpius tried to say but had to deflect a bat bogey hex.

"And the whole time you were lying to me! I guess I was wrong about you. You really are just an arrogant, little – "

Scorpius had had enough and this time cut Rose off with a "SILENCIO!" charm.

Rose stood there opening her mouth for a bit and from what Scorpius could tell was using a wide variety of curse words.

"Now If you had just let me explain I wouldn't have had to do that." Scorpius said dryly, "Of course I don't support this pureblood mania! Why would I make up all that stuff to say to you if it wasn`t true? Of course it was! I only came here today because Jenn dragged me here with her and I had no idea what was going on. Didn`t you notice how I didn`t fight back?"

Now that he was done talking, a little out of breath, Scorpius warily removed the silencing charm from Rose.

She gave him a cold look and said "Don`t you ever use that charm on me again Scorpius Malfoy." But her smile gave her away. She ran up to hug him and said "I'm sorry I doubted you." Scorpius hugged her back smiling, and together they went back to the trophy room to assess the damage.

…

Albus barely registered Ria joining the fight, he was so focused on his opponent. Henry was two years his senior and much more experienced in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Albus was barely managing to block all of his curses and was beginning to sweat. There was a slight break in between spells and Albus managed to cast a stunning spell, but he stumbled as he said it. "Stu- stupefy." Albus couldn't help himself he was so nervous. Nott laughed as, while Albus had been distracted he was hit with an "Expelliarmus" so powerful that it knocked him off his feet and sent his wand skittering a few feet away from him.

With the wind knocked out of him, Albus stared upward – he could scarcely breathe as Henry came into focus above him. He laughed a cruel laugh "Little baby Potter, trying to fight. Think you could be like Daddy did you?"

Albus closed his eyes, he was nothing like his Father right now. His Father was an auror, he had saved the wizarding race and Albus was just a loser lying on the floor.

"Of course not," Henry continued "you think you're so great don't you? So much better than me? Your father is a hero while mine is disgraced because of him. But you're the disgrace – all the Potters are."

"My family is NOT a disgrace!" Albus shouted. Henry looked a little taken aback at the outburst and if truth be told, Albus was a little taken aback at himself.

"Yes they are! They're worthless" Henry snarled savagely. "Especially you, itty baby Potter." and he raised his wand to deliver another curse to Albus.

Suddenly, rage and adrenaline filled Albus. He heard a swishing in his ears. He was not worthless, and he was not a disgrace. He was a Potter – it was where he belonged. He was brave and courageous and he would show this wretched little boy. In a loud, clear voice, before Henry even had a chance to utter his curse Albus shouted "STUPEFY!" and stunned Henry to the ground.

Albus got up, shook the dirt off his robes, looked Henry in the face and said coolly "My name is Albus Severus Potter. Remember it."

….

"Expelliarmus!"

"Stupefy!"

James grinned at Ria as she took out the last of their opponents. She twirled her wand around her fingers and said with a smug look "Aren't you glad you had my help?"

James' smile instantly disappeared and he bit back retorts of "I was doing fine on my own." And "what help – I did that myself!" instead he took a deep breath, nodded his head and said "Yes, thank you." Ria's jaw dropped just about to the floor and James grinned at that instead.

He looked over and saw Albus standing over henry Nott. "Nice work Albus." and smiled at his brother, who smiled back.

At that moment Professors Statas, Longbottom and Flitwick all burst in with their wands out and Proffesor Stratas said in an astonished voice "What the devil is going on here?"

James couldn't help himself, he laughed.

**A/N – I know I promised that I would update this quickly and I apologize for not doing so. This was the last chapter (I will be including an epilogue though so it's not entirely complete) and I just wanted to say thank you to anyone who reviewed/favourite/alerted my story and I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any advice for improving my writing please let me know (I think I resolve my conflicts too easily!) as tips are greatly appreciated. I'm also thinking of doing a sequel but the characters would be sixth and seventh years so let me know what you think.**

**Much love,**

**AbSim7 3**


	11. Epilogue

Epilogue

"Hey." Rose smiled at Scorpius and sat down at their favourite sunlit spot in the library. It was only two days after the battle and tonight most of the school would be leaving for the Christmas holidays.

"Are you all packed?" she asked and Scorpius shook his head. Out of everyone in the battle, they were the only two that had escaped detention as they never returned to the room once they realised the teachers were there. James was still grumbling about this as he had two weeks of scrubbing pots after the break.

Actually, Rose realized, there was one other person who had escaped punishment and that was Jenn Payne. She had left the room as soon as the fighting began. Rose had been putting off talking to Scorpius about her but knew she would have to eventually. Rose sighed internally.

Slightly hesitant, she said "Scorpius? May I ask you something?"

Scorpius looked at her and seemed to take in her tone of voice. "Of course, you can ask me anything."

"Why are you friends with Jenn?" Rose blurted out.

Scorpius laughed a relieved sort of laugh and replied to her question. "Our families are friends and I've known her since we were about six."

"Well that makes sense, I guess." Rose responded thoughtfully. " But why do you put up with her? She's awful!"* Rose screwed up her face thinking about her.

"She's not that bad really, her parents aren't the best to her and she has a lot of pressure on her. She really doesn't believe in all that pureblood stuff – she's just trying to impress her parents."

"Oh," Rose replied "I guess I never really thought about that."

"Yes, but don't mention it to her or she'll bite my head off." Scorpius smiled at her and then said "Well I have to go get some things ready for the train so I guess I'll see you later when we pretend not to know each other."

He waved and went and Rose was left staring sadly after him with a frown on her face as she contemplated something that had been bothering her.

…

"I was the only one left still fighting." James told his compartment proudly. They were almost pulling back into King's Cross Station to begin Christmas break which he would be spending at the Burrow. Erica was listening to his retelling of the battle with rapt attention while Troy looked on sourly.

Roxanne rolled her eyes and said "Quit bragging James."

"It's not bragging if it's true." James grinned at her "Besides, you're just mad because you didn't do as well as me."

Roxanne was about to retort when James said "Excuse me." and walked out of the compartment.

"Hey Barnes!" he shouted to Ria who had just walked by.

"What do you want Potter?" She retorted, but James could tell she was holding back a smile.

"Thanks for helping with the battle and everything, but just so we're clear I could beat you in a duel any day."

"In your dreams Potter." Ria replied winking, and walked away.

…

As soon as the train stopped, Albus ran off and flew into his mother's arms. He may have defeated Henry Nott and become something of a temporary celebrity at Hogwarts but he was still an eleven year old boy who missed his mother.

"I've missed you so much!" Ginny told him, her red hair hanging around his face. "You've grown a bit too." Albus smiled at his mother and looked over at his Dad.

"How about a hug for your old man?" Harry Asked him and Albus obliged. He had missed both his parents a lot.

"Where is that brother of yours?" Ginny asked impatiently but fondly. "Grandma Molly and Lily are waiting for us back at the burrow."

"I'm here!" James announced himself. "As handsome as ever." Ginny and Harry quickly leaned in to give him a hug and Albus saw James relax a bit into them before pulling away and saying "Come on now, I'm a bit too old for that don't you think?"

"No I do not!" Said Ginny "And what's this I hear from Professor Longbottom about you two getting into a fight?" Just then Rose, Hugo, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron joined them.

"Don't look at me!" James said "_I_ was just trying to stop prejudice from occurring in our society – Albus was the one who went all rebel and duelled someone two years older than him!"

Five sets of proud eyes turned to look at Albus who grinned sheepishly and stared at the ground. Harry kneeled down next to him and said "Is this true son?" Albus nodded to him and Harry continued "Now don't tell your mother this, but I'm proud of you." And he hugged his son once more.

…

Rose was very happy to see her family again, she had missed them so much and had a lot to tell them.

"Hey Rose," her Father asked "Why weren't you in this battle?"

"Ronald!" Her mother hissed at him.

"Of course I was in the battle," Rose replied with a smile. "I just wasn't stupid enough to get caught like these two bozos. "

Rose looked on fondly as her family laughed but felt as though something was missing. From the corner of her eye she noticed a platinum haired boy standing not far from them. Rose went over to him, grinned and said "Come on."

She pulled him over to where her family stood with surprised faces and said, "Mum, Dad, I'd like you to meet my best friend Scorpius Malfoy." And watched as, slowly, her Dad came forward and shook his hand.

**A/N – Wow it feels good to complete a story! So what do you guys think? Anyone interested in a sequel?**__

***Note to Jenn – the character in my story just uses your name so don't worry I don't think you're like her at all! You're actually the opposite of her – love ya! **


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